Dryer assemblies are conventionally used in car wash applications to impart a fluid force on an exterior of a vehicle once the vehicle has been fully washed and rinsed. The applied fluid force attempts to remove cleaning solution and moisture from the exterior of the vehicle prior to the vehicle exiting the car wash.
Conventional dryer assemblies usually include a funnel and a blower motor disposed generally between an inlet and an outlet of the dryer assembly. The funnel receives air generally at the inlet and directs the air to the blower motor for compression. The blower motor compresses the air received from the funnel prior to expelling the compressed air at the outlet. The compressed air is directed generally toward a moving vehicle below to remove excess cleaning solution and/or water from the exterior of the vehicle prior to the vehicle exiting the car wash.
Blower motors of conventional dryer assemblies may be configured to be constantly driven such that the motor is always energized or, alternatively, may be configured to be selectively driven only when a vehicle requires drying. When a blower motor is configured to be constantly driven, energy is wasted in driving the blower motor between vehicles. For example, vehicles are typically spaced apart in a conventional car wash to allow moving components of the wash to adequately access each vehicle for proper washing and drying. Blower motors that are constantly energized waste energy in providing a fluid force between adjacent vehicles. Such wasted energy is further exaggerated when few vehicles are cycled through the car wash such that the space between vehicles is increased.
Blower motors that are configured to be selectively shut down between vehicles require a surge of energy and at least two to three seconds to initially ramp up to full speed. Therefore, while blower motors that are selectively shut down between vehicles may realize a slight energy savings in not running between vehicles, some energy is wasted in continually ramping up and shutting down the blower motor. Furthermore, such configurations also decrease performance as the blower motor may not be up to full speed when the vehicle initially encounters the dryer assembly.
Therefore, a dryer assembly for a car wash that is capable of selectively restricting power consumption between vehicles while not sacrificing performance is desirable in the industry.